Yesterday was great, meeting neighbors from a far-off land and eating non-street food for the first time in a week. On the patio of the hotel:
I just can’t seem to find the words to tell you how gorgeous the AUC campus is…so, forget it. Here, instead:
The only thing I’ve found stressful here is the lack of organization and bloated bureaucracy that is AUC and Zamalek dorm planning. Getting a student visa here involves going to the office and being told that you need at least 2 forms and a copy of your passport to turn into another office before they can submit your application. You will then proceed to the other office, papers in hand, only to find that your financial situation needs official documentation from yet another office. After waiting in line patiently, your documentation request is approved—but now there is a line by the second office and you must wait. Finally you enter the room and turn in all your forms. But wait—you must return in a week to begin the actual application process, and surrender your passport for an unspecified amount of time. What fun!
Good news: I was able to make it to the cruise on the Nile after I was told by phone that I had a good five minutes to board the bus in Zamalek (meeting time: TBA on all the boards). I was then in al-Azhar park, a beautiful park in eastern Cairo…unfortunately, at least 45 minutes from the dorm. Undaunted, my friends and I took a cab to Ma’adi and met the bus there just as the other students were boarding. The food, qamar-ad-din, (“moon of the religion,” a very sweet apricot drink) and deep red setting sun made it all worthwhile.
On a lighter note, I’ve learned a lot from cabs here. I prefer the black unmetered ones as they involve more interaction with the driver. If you’re not so good with Arabic or the Egyptian dialect, this interaction involves waving your hands as you enter the cab and saying لالالا, no no no, to the absurd price the driver is offering for his ride less than a mile across the river. Don’t be a silly tourist and pay 50 pounds for a 5-minute cab ride. That only happens in New York.
Speaking of pounds, the fast-food restaurant Gad has changed me significantly.
(insert obese picture here)
No…not in that way. At Gad, you can buy a falafel sandwich for about a pound. I’m talking about how every time I think of how much something costs, I think of it in falafels.
One large bottle of water: 3 falafels.
A meal at Prince: between 4 and 10 falafels.
A five-day, five-star-hotel trip to Luxor and Aswan with the group: 3,500 falafels!
You decide which is more worthwhile. What would you do with 3,500 falafels? If you’re American, maybe a better question is…what would you do with 300,000 falafels?
Send me your suggestions. Some examples include:
• Give them out for free to the poor
• Let them loose in America as a (much more functional) stimulus package that delivers vast amounts of…you guessed it, carbs and essential oils.
• Far upstream, build a dam on the Nile (supplemented with something less biodegradable, like plastic) and blackmail countries that depend on its water into respecting human rights
…Like I said, it’s been a long day, and now I need some food.
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